Philippines report nearly 25,000 dengue cases in past month

In the past month, Philippines health officials have recorded nearly an additional 25,000 dengue fever cases, according to the latest data released on Tuesday. On July 2, the Philippinesdepartment of Health (DOH) put the tally since the beginning of the year at 59,585.

Image/CDC

According to data released yesterday, DOH puts the dengue total at 84,085 suspected dengue cases through Aug. 6. There were 585 laboratory-confirmed dengue cases in the country.

The Philippines, along with Malaysia, Cambodia are countries in the Western pacific with the highest incidence of dengue, according to the World Health Organization.

Dengue fever is a disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses (DENV 1, DENV 2, DENV 3, or DENV 4). The viruses are transmitted to humans by the bite of an infectedAedes mosquito.

The principal symptoms of dengue fever are high fever, severe headache, severe pain behind the eyes, joint pain, muscle and bone pain, rash, and mild bleeding(e.g., nose or gums bleed, easy bruising). Generally, younger children and those with their first dengue infection have a milder illness than older children and adults.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there may be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year. However, new research from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, using cartographic approaches, estimate there to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.